Coleman Commuters Defined

State transportation officials think they have come up with a definition to suit people who will be most affected when a toll is placed on the Coleman Bridge next year.

Under a proposal announced Tuesday, a Coleman Commuter would be someone who:

* Signs up for an electronic toll collection system, paying money in advance into an account for the thrill of zooming through the toll gate without stopping.

* Drives a two-axle vehicle, whether it is a passenger car or commercial truck or van.

* Crosses the span at least three times in three months.

The last point should bring the biggest sigh of relief from citizens and elected officials who were ticked off at the state's suggestion last year: To be a commuter, and cash in on a reduced toll, a driver had to cross the bridge at least three times a week.

Many people called and wrote to the Virginia Department of Transportation to protest the limitation, spokesman Bill Cannell said. Boards of supervisors, state legislators and planning district officials demanded that the commuter rate be available to anyone, regardless of how many times they crossed the bridge.

The 3-in-3 criteria is a limit, albeit a loose one, Cannell said. But frequency of usage - a minimum number of crossings in a certain amount of time - must be stated in order to satisfy terms of the bond sale that will help pay for the bridge, Cannell said.

The new proposal also would allow any two-axle vehicle to qualify for the same commuter rate as a car, he said. Previously, commercial vans and trucks would have paid a higher commuter rate.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board will take action on the plan May 18 in Abingdon, he said.

Whoever meets the definition of a commuter would be able to pay a reduced toll of 25 cents each way. The non-commuter fare for a two-axle vehicle would be $1 each way.

Tolls would be collected going northbound only, so the automatic deduction would be 50 cents for a commuter. The noncommuter two-axle vehicle would pay $2 at the toll booth.

The toll money will be used to pay back $38.1 million worth of bonds sold to help pay for widening the two-lane bridge to four lanes. The total construction cost is $95.8 million. The tolls will be placed on the bridge after the project is finished, about August 1996.

A lot of ``nitty-gritty operational issues'' on the toll collection system still must be worked out, Cannell said.

A group of 45 to 50 people will be asked to participate in a brainstorming session next month to make suggestions on topics including operation of the automatic toll collection system, which VDOT has dubbed FasToll.

FasToll will be a computerized system that automatically deducts the cost of crossings from a pre-paid account. Each vehicle participating would have a device installed near the windshield that would transmit information to a computer in a toll-collection lane.

Issues still undecided about FasToll include:

* How much deposit would be charged for the windshield device? Cannell said $10 to $15 has been suggested.

* How would people pay into their account? Could they make deposits by mailing a check, giving a credit card number, paying cash at the toll booth or all three?

* How much would they have to pay in advance at a time? ``We won't ask people to put $50 or $60 out,'' Cannell said.

* What if someone got to pay the commuter rate but only crossed twice in three months? ``We'll have to figure out how to get the extra money,'' he said.

Money paid into an account but not used would be refundable, Cannell said. Once paid in, there would be no time limit on having to spend it, he said.

COLEMAN TOLLS

Tolls would be collected only in the northbound lanes of the Coleman Bridge after the widening project is finished about August 1996. You would pay no toll going southbound. you would pay double the one-way rate going northbound.

You pay northbound:

Commuter 50 cents

(you must sign up for automatic toll collection, drive a vehicle with two axles - private of commercial - and cross the bridge at least three times in three months)